


Leave Me Behind

by QueenOfNewOrleans22



Category: Guns N' Roses
Genre: Angst, Arguing, M/M, Past Drug Use, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:41:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29934267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfNewOrleans22/pseuds/QueenOfNewOrleans22
Summary: "I'm leaving." There were no more needles, no more haze to disguise the insanity that was going on behind the scenes.
Relationships: Axl Rose/Izzy Stradlin
Kudos: 11





	Leave Me Behind

"I'm leaving." There were no more needles, no more haze to disguise the insanity that was going on behind the scenes. It wasn't even Izzy anymore, not that stoic, black-haired guitarist with the cigarette stuck between his lips and the knowledge that shined in his grey-brown eyes. No, it was Jeffrey, with his dreadlocks and his button-ups, with his youth returned. 

Axl should've expected it. He should've expected to hear those words, so simple, so brutal. But he hadn't. ' _A product of your own arrogance.'_ A voice whispered, but no words would come. Axl slowly shook his head. "What?" He said, suddenly struck dumb. The words that came to him while writing songs had suddenly disappeared. "But...what?" Axl couldn't believe it. 

But Izzy looked calm. He looked strong, confident. "I'm leaving." He repeated, slower this time, as if talking to an idiot. Izzy held his shoulders straight, chin tilted high. "I'm gonna leave, and I'm not coming back." Izzy added, and he looked so sure of himself, so convinced that what he was saying was right. 

"Why?" Axl asked, feeling as though he'd been slapped. He didn't know what to think, what to say. He felt cold, shocked into a dull fear. Nothing seemed real, not even the cold look in Izzy's strange eyes. Axl should've expected this, but he hadn't, and he didn't know what or how to feel. 

"Because." Izzy paused, seeming to consider his words. "I'm tired." He said. 

Axl frowned. "You're tired?" He repeated. "Everybody's tired, Izzy. But that doesn't mean-" He was interupted when Izzy, in a rare burst of anger, a flame emerging from a ball of ice, slapped his hand down on the table. Axl had rarely ever had the displeasure of seeing Izzy anger, of seeing his lips twist into a scowl, breathing harshly through clenched teeth. 

"I'm not tired of the job." Izzy said softly. "I'm tired of _you."_ He hissed. 

The words were sharp. Axl felt his own anger blossom. "What the fuck does that mean?" He sat up a little straighter, as if that would help him hear the response better. Maybe, Axl didn't want to hear the reply. 

"I'm tired of your selfishness." Izzy replied coldly. "I'm tired of your narcissism, of your need to always be right, even at my expense." He looked tearful, then, as if he was suddenly pained. 

Axl stared. "You're not gonna leave." He said. 

"I've packed my things." Izzy replied. 

"Then why we you still here?" Axl asked. 

"To say goodbye." Izzy answered. 

They stared at each other for a long minute, and Axl remembered the first time he'd kissed Izzy, back when they were Bill and Jeffrey, two kids with nowhere to go and nowhere to be. Now, they were Axl and Jeffrey, and everything was falling apart. "Go." Axl spat out. "I don't want your pity goodbyes." He turned away. 

And Izzy left. 


End file.
